When he came to, there was an uncomfortable throbbing in his skull and his arms were pressed up against his ears. He moaned loudly and tried to move. However, he soon realized he was dangling in the air. A thick rope tied his feet together and was looped through a fat metal hook.
It took him a minute to figure out if he was dreaming or not until a blood-curdling scream woke him right up. A girl was shrieking like her arm had been severed off. Ethan whirled his head around.
He was in a box shaped room, dimly lit, with two doors that possessed no knobs of any kind. A skinny girl with - BLUE hair was flailing on a table. Ethan blinked several times, trying to focus on anything but the blood rushing to his head. Oh my...
He wasn't necessarily alone up here. On similar hooks, someone was hanging next to him, except this person was in several pieces. Blood sprinkled down decorating the ground like a gory cupcake.
It took all the willpower in the world for Ethan to not puke his brains out.
The blue-haired girl had wiggled her way off the table and hit the floor. Her screams were not helping Ethan's headache.
"Hey..." his voice was hoarse, "Hey..."
The girl crawled to a corner of the room, sobbing.
"Hey... Hello... HEY!" Ethan thrashed, hoping to loosen himself from the hook.
The girl sniffled, her bright eyes widening when she spotted him, "S-Someone e-else? THANK GOODNESS, help me!"
Ethan frowned, "GIRL. I am hanging here! I need you to cut me down, first."
Blue-haired girl refused to move from her spot, or couldn't, but Ethan could feel his face turning purple.
"I'm just gonna pass out again unless we get me down, so let's do that, yeah?"
Finally, the girl nodded, mascara streaked down her pale cheeks. She was about to stand - or crawl when a terrifying voice sounded in their little room.
"Hello. Macy. Ethan."
Ethan knew this situation was bad, but it was about to get a lot worse. What jigsaw movie did they get themselves into?
"I bet you're wondering, why are you here? Why am I doing this to you? What... am I going to do to you..."
Macy let out another pathetic sob, shrinking back into her corner. Ethan desperately wanted to at least be on his feet again. He didn't want to end up like the guy chopped to pieces next to him.
"Fortunately, I won't be doing anything. Unfortunately, my friends might."
The voice was charming, like a snake, smooth but poisonous.
"The battle for your life begins here in this room. Find all the clues, escape the tunnels, and you will walk out of The Thanato Project alive. Your first task, Macy, by any means you must free Ethan, for he has the only card key to exit this room. Easy enough, the card is hidden in his shoe. However..."
"You will not be alone in your adventure. My friends are restless and want to play too. They are completely blind, due to some... disabilities, but they can definitely hear you. And the scent of blood might make them feisty."
"You have ten seconds to think of your next move. Good luck."
"AW, HELL!" Ethan shouted.
Macy cried, "What d-does he mean? What does this mean? W-what key, I..."
"Just hurry and find something to cut me down!" Ethan said, "Um... there! Over there! There's a little tool table, I think."
Ethan pointed frantically and a small table across the room against the wall. The tools looked less than friendly, but sharp is all they needed. Some jagged knives and other instruments were hanging on a shelf, and Ethan spotted a nice pair of gardening scissors.
"He said the key is in my shoe, help me down, and we get out! Ok!"
Macy was shaking so badly she was hardly in control of her body anymore, but she nodded slowly. She looked like a zombie stumbling towards the tools. Another startling sound shook the room. This time one of the doors opened. It opened quickly with a loud *thunk* and then shut itself again.
"Don't you scream!" Ethan hissed, "Don't make a sound..."
Macy froze in the middle of the room, still halfway away from the tools. The friend had arrived, and it greeted them with sickening gurgling breaths. Ethan couldn't feel the pain in his head anymore, only the ice cold fear rooting inside his stomach.
What is that thing...?
******
"I have donuts," Ryan declared as he entered Gerald's office.
"We're not the po po," Gerald said, "I think detectives are more of a... cigar and beer, kind of bunch."
Ryan pulled out a chocolate covered donut, examined it, examined himself, and then nodded, "Nope, I think I'll take the donut."
Gerald shrugged and took one of the sugary pastries. They sorted through the messy files that had piled up over the past week. Once it was apparent that a few students had disappeared, the reports flooded. So far, six had gone missing, and that wasn't including Alaire.
After replaying the voicemail over and over, Gerald was more than certain that Alaire had been taken. It was silly to think otherwise, but he understood where the cops were coming from. Alaire and Aaron were considered "unwell" or "traumatized", and Alaire made the mistake of confessing to killing someone, potentially the actual murderer, but when the police couldn't find the murderers it made her look bad.
Now it was time to see if Alaire's kidnapping and the other students had anything to do with each other.
"Oh! So get this," Ryan said, "I found something I think you'll want to see. Right by the donut shop is this little antique place, you know where they sell old trinkets and such. Well this older woman, cute as a button, starts telling me she has artifacts from older Thanatos cults. It's all over the news lately, so I'm sure she was just jumping to tell the next customer, but I think it might be worth exploring!"
"Old Thanatos cults, huh?" Gerald said thoughtfully, "I was convinced it was a new fad... How old does she claim they are?"
"Like, not this century old."
"Any pictures?"
Ryan grinned, "Of course." He brought out his smartphone and scrolled through several photos. He handed it to Gerald, and the first thing he noticed was a black figurine, a butterfly with a skull.
"Interesting."
"What?" Ryan sounded excited.
"In Aaron's interview," Gerald quickly whips through some papers, "he claims the culprits drew symbols - just like this."
Gerald pulled out a picture that Aaron had drawn for the police. A butterfly. Skulls embellished the wings and it had an upside down torch for a body.
"So... Should we visit the antique shop?" Ryan asked.
"Let's do it."
"Alright!" Ryan was already out the door.
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